Using showcase with images
Watch this menu on YouTube. The -showcase option for todisc can put any image you like in a DVD's main menu, front-and-center. Other things you can showcase: video and nothing. This article fully describes the process and command that created this DVD menu. At the same time, chapter submenus were created since they cannot be made separately (it's all or nothing with todisc). However they deserve their own treatment. So, this article addresses the main menu, and another article addresses the submenus. Generating command The generating command in its entirety is: $ todisc -files amateur.mpg caliendo.mpg monkey.mpg poppin.mpg \ -titles "Amateur" "Frank\nCaliendo" "Code\nMonkey" "Korean\nBreakers" \ -menu-title "My Favorite YouTube Videos" -menu-font DieNasty \ -menu-fontsize 36 -title-color '#ff7700' -stroke-color black \ -thumb-font DieNasty -thumb-fontsize 22 -thumb-text-color '#ff7700' \ -showcase monkey-highlight.png -showcase-titles-align east \ -bgaudio monkey.wav -rotate 5 -wave default \ -submenus -submenu-titles "Amateur by Lasse Gjertsen" \ "Frank Caliendo on Dave Letterman" "Code Monkey music video" \ "Poppin in the Streets of Korea" -submenu-title-color '#ff7700' \ -submenu-stroke-color black -submenu-audiolength 20 -submenu-audio \ amateur.wav caliendo.wav monkey.wav poppin.wav \ -out MyFavoriteYouTube But this article only describes this portion: $ todisc -files amateur.mpg caliendo.mpg monkey.mpg poppin.mpg \ -titles "Amateur" "Frank\nCaliendo" "Code\nMonkey" "Korean\nBreakers" \ -menu-title "My Favorite YouTube Videos" -menu-font DieNasty \ -menu-fontsize 36 -title-color '#ff7700' -stroke-color black \ -thumb-font DieNasty -thumb-fontsize 22 -thumb-text-color '#ff7700' \ -showcase monkey-highlight.png -showcase-titles-align east \ -bgaudio monkey.wav -rotate 5 -wave default Basics In addition to the basic options todisc has, it also offers special options unique to -showcase. Using these options gives you a lot more power over the look and feel of your DVD menus. See for yourself what these standard and special options can do: Main menu All together, the options that controlled the main menu's look were: $ todisc -files amateur.mpg caliendo.mpg monkey.mpg poppin.mpg \ -titles "Amateur" "Frank\nCaliendo" "Code\nMonkey" "Korean\nBreakers" \ -menu-title "My Favorite YouTube Videos" -menu-font DieNasty \ -menu-fontsize 36 -title-color '#ff7700' -stroke-color black \ -thumb-font DieNasty -thumb-fontsize 22 -thumb-text-color '#ff7700' \ -showcase monkey-highlight.png -showcase-titles-align east \ -bgaudio monkey.wav -rotate 5 -wave default Breaking this down, the commands look like: Background Tell todisc to use a background audio track for the main menu. The audio file was taken from an existing video (the Code Monkey music video). -bgaudio monkey.wav Large, bottom title Set the title. -menu-title "My Favorite YouTube Videos" Set the font and its properties. -menu-font DieNasty -menu-fontsize 36 -title-color '#ff7700' -stroke-color black Thumbnails Tell todisc which files to use on the DVD. These are the source videos for the thumbnails as well. These files do not have to be DVD compliant beforehand. If todisc sees that they aren't, it will ask you if you'd like to encode them. -files amateur.mpg caliendo.mpg monkey.mpg poppin.mpg Set the name for each thumbnail. Notice these are given in the same order as -files and notice the newline characters '\n'. -titles "Amateur" "Frank\nCaliendo" "Code\nMonkey" "Korean\nBreakers" Set the thumbnail title font and its properties. -thumb-font DieNasty -thumb-fontsize 22 -thumb-text-color '#ff7700' Showcase image Tell todisc to showcase an image. The image was taken from an existing video (the Code Monkey music video). -showcase monkey-highlight.png Tell todisc where to put the showcase. -showcase-titles-align east Rotate the showcase image by 5 degrees, and add a wave effect. -rotate 5 -wave default Submenus The command that made this main menu also made chapter submenus, but that description is outside the scope of this article. Jump to read about the submenu process. Category:HOWTO Category:todisc